Gage for setting electrical outlet boxes



Jan. 5, 1960 K. E. PHAIR GAGE FOR SETTING ELECTRICAL ouTLET BOXES 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 14, 1958 INVENTOR. [fly/V57 Ci/ W6? CM FIG. 3

HTTOR/VEY Jan. 5, 1960 K. E. PHAIR 2,919,913

GAGE FOR SETTING ELECTRICAL OUTLET BOXES Filed Aug. 14, 1958 4Sheets-Sheet 2 BY M FTTOR/VE) Jan. 5, 1960 K. E. PHAIR 2,919,913

GAGE FOR SETTING ELECTRICAL OUTLET BOXES Filed Aug. 14, 1958 4Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. KEN/VET t: Pl/A/Q FTTOR/VEY Jan. 5, 1960 K. E.PHAIR 2,919,913

GAGE FOR SETTING ELECTRICAL 01mm BOXES Filed Aug. 14, 1958 4Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 9

oZZWLCM flTTORA/EY United States Patent f 919,913 ('iAoii FOR snrrnioELECTRICAL OUTLET BOXES Kenneth E. Phair, East We'ymouth, Mass;Application August 14, 1958, Serial No. 754,982

6 Claims. (31. 269-115) 'studding for the walls has been erected andbefore the wall finish is applied to the studding. Such wall outletboxes are frequently placed in the lower portion of the wall within afoot or two of the floor.

Many houses are built with a wall finish which is known to the trade asa dry wall application and which consists of sheets of some suitablematerial such as plasterboard, plywood, etc., which are nailed to thestuds.

'Such sheets 'vary in thickness according to the character of thematerial from which they are made. Some sheets may be 4 inch thick, somemay be /2 inch thick, and

some may be inch thick.

When any outlet box is nailed to a stud, it is important that it bepositioned with its front edge projecting the correct distance beyondthe face of the stud so that when the wall finish is applied, such frontedge will be substantially flush with the finish. One object of theinvention is to provide a gage which, when used, makes it easy for aworkman to mount an out- 'let box on the studding correctly for any ofthe various .types of wall finish which may be used.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple gage device whichassists the workman in mounting the outlet boxes on the studding inproper vertical alignment and at the required distance from the floor.

, In the drawings wherein I have illustrated a preferred embodiment ofmy invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the gage in use and holding anoutlet box in proper position for being secured to the right side of astud.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the body portion of the gage.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 44, Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view showing in perspective the two sections of the depthgage element of the device.

- Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. l but showing the gage adjusted forpositioning an outlet box on the left side of the supporting stud.

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77, Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the means employed formounting an outlet box on the boxpositioning element.

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 99, Fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the depth gage set forpositioning an outlet box for a wall which is to be finished with a thindry wall finish material such as plasterboard.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the "ice 2 depth gageset for positioning an outlet box for a wall whichhas a thicker dry wallfinish material.

In the drawings, 1 indicates one of the studs in a wall of a building towhich an outlet box 2 is to be attached. This outlet box is of the knowntype which has on one side an upwardly extending arm 3 and a downwardlyextending arm 4, said arms being provided with apertures to receivenails 5 by which the outlet box is secured to the stud 1.

The gage embodying this invention comprises an elongated body member 6having a front face and a rear face and a box-positioning member 7 whichis mounted on the rear face of the body member 6 for adjustment in thedirection of the length thereof. The box-positioning member 7 extendslaterally beyond the body member 6 on one side thereof, as shown at 8,so that when the body member is placed in an upright position in frontof the stud 1 and with its rear face facing the stud, the portion 8 ofthe box-positioning member will be located at one side of said stud.

The box-positioning member 7 may be adjustably secured to the bodymember 6 in any way suitable. As herein shown, the body member 6 isprovided with a central slot 9 extending longitudinally thereof, andsaid positioning member 7 is secured to the rear face of the body 6 bymeans of two shouldered screws 10 which occupy said slot, the end 11 ofeach screw being screw threaded and having screw-threaded engagementwith the boxpositioning member 7, as shown in Fig. 9.

The positioning member 7 has secured to its rear face a depth gageelement 12 which, when the gage is in use, rests against the front face13 of the stud.

The box-positioning member 7 is formed on its rear face with a raisedportion 14 having a shape corresponding to that of the opening in theoutlet box so that when the box is mounted on the positioning member 7,the

raised portion 14 fills the box opening while the edges of the box areresting against the back face of the positioning member as shown inFigs. 4 and 9.

In using the gage, the positioning member 7 will be adjusted to theheight at which the box is to be attached to the stud 1; and the openside of the outlet box will be placed over the raised portion 14, asshown in Figs. 3 and 9. The gage, with the box thus mounted thereon, isthen placed in front of the stud 1 with the depth gage 12 restingagainst the front face 13 thereof, with the lower end resting on thefloor and with the box 2 located at one side of the stud. With thisarrangement, the box will be located with its front edge in a verticalplane and at a distance in front of the face 13 of the stud equal to thethickness of the depth gage 12.

With the box thus held, it can be attached to the stud by means of nails5 driven through the openings in the arms 3 and 4.

When the outlet box is thus attached to the stud, the open end thereofwill project beyond the front face 13 of the stud 1 by a distance equalto the thickness of the depth gage 12; The depth ga e 12 is constructedso that it may provide gages of different thicknesses corresponding todry wall finish sheets of different thicknesses.

For this purpose, the depth gage 12 is made in two sections of differentthickness, shown at 15 and 16, which may be used separately or'together.The section 15 has a thickness which may be approximately equal to thatof a plasterboard wall finish; and the section 16 may be of a thicknesscorresponding to that of a finish sheet of plywood or some othermaterial; while when the two sections 15 and 16 are assembled together,as shown in Figs. 3 and 9, the gage 12 will position the outlet boxproperly for a wall which has a wall finish of extra thickness.

The two depth gage sections 15 and 16 may be secured in position in anysuitable way. 'As herein shown,

the depth gage section is provided with two pins or projections 17 whichare received in openings formed in the back face of the member 7. Saidgage section 15 is provided with a central opening 18 to receive a screw21 by which said gage section can be secured to the member 7, the latterhaving a screw-threaded socket 22 to receive said screw.

The depth gage section 16 is also provided with two pins or projections19 adapted to fit into openings 20 with which the depth section 15 isprovided. When both of the depth gage sections are used, as shown inFigs. 3 and 4, an attaching screw 21 will be used which is long enoughto extend through both of the gage sections and screw intoscrew-threaded socket 22 with which the member 7 is provided.

As stated above, when the depth gage section 15 is used alone, as shownin Fig. 10, the gage structure is set for properly locating an outletbox on a stud for a wall which is to have a plasterboard finish. If thewall is to have a wall finish which is slightly thicker thanplasterboard, then the gage section 15 may be replaced by the gagesection 16, while if the wall is to have an extra thick dry wall finish,the two sections 15 and 16 may be used together as shown in Fig. ll.

While the depth gage 12 is herein shown as composed of two sections, yetif desired, it might be made of more than two sections if it was desiredto have a gage which could provide a greater number of depth adjustmentsthan that provided by the two-section depth gage. The depth gage 12 maybe so designed that when the two sections are used together as shown inFig. 11, it may be used to properly position an outlet box on a stud ofa wall that is to have a lath and plaster finish.

The body member 6 will preferably be provided on its front face with ascale 23 which may be in inches or in any other desirable measurement.In making the vertical adjustment of the box-positioning member 7, thebox-positioning member 7 may then be moved up or down to bring the topedge thereof into registry with any of the markings on the scale,depending upon the height at which it is desired that the outlet boxesshould be located.

In the construction shown, I have provided means whereby thebox-positioning member 7 may be yieldingly held in any adjusted positionby sufficient friction so that said positioning member can be readilyshifted from one position to another without loosening the clampingscrews 21. As herein shown, the positioning member 7 is provided withrecesses 25 in which balls 26 are received, each ball being backed by aspring 27 located in the corresponding recess. The body member 6 isprovided with a series of indentations 28 in which the balls arepartially received when said positioning member is set at any of themeasurements indicated on the scale. When the box-positioning member isset at any point with the balls 26 occupying the recesses 28, the saidpositioning member will be held sufficiently firmly in its adjustedposition for ordinary use.

With this construction, however, if some pressure is applied in avertical direction on the box-positioning member 7, the balls 26 will bepushed out of the recesses 28 against the action of the springs 25, thusfreeing the positioning member for vertical adjustment. When the properadjustment has been made, the balls 26 will again drop into thecorresponding recesses 28, thus holding the positioning member in itsadjusted position.

In the construction shown in Fig. l, the gage is set up to position anoutlet box on the right side of a stud i. The gage can also be set up sothat it will function in the same way to position an outlet box on theleft side of a stud, as shown in Fig. 3. For this purpose, the bodymember 6 is made as a double-ended member; that is, one end functionswhen it is set up to position a box on the right side of the stud, andthe otherend is used when it is set up to position an outlet box on theleft side of the stud.

It will be observed from Figs. 1 and 6 that each end of the body member6 carries a scale 23, the higher numbers being at the outer ends of thebody member and the lower numbers being near the center thereof. Toconvert the gage from a right-hand gage shown in Fig. 3 to a left-handgage shown in Fig. 6, the positioning member 7 will be adjusted from aworking position at one end of the body member to a working position atthe other end thereof. By reversing the body member, the positioningmember which was adjusted to the lower end of the member shown in Fig. 1will then be at the top of the body member but with the portion 8extending to the left of the body member, as shown in Fig. 6.

In some electrical outlet boxes, the supporting arms 3 and 4 have aportion struck up therefrom to provide a spur, as shown at 35, which maybe driven into the stud when the box is held in its correct position bythe gage, thereby to hold the box in its position while the nails 5 arebeing driven.

In using the gage for holding a box of this type, the workman willstrike the arms 3 and 4 with a hammer after the box has been properlypositioned, and then the gage may be removed during the operation ofdriving the nails 5, since the engagement of the spurs with the studwill hold the box in its proper position during the nail-drivingoperation.

I claim:

l. A gage for setting an electrical outlet box on the side of a stud ina wall of a building which is being erected, said gage comprising anelongated body member, an electrical outlet box-positioning elementmounted thereon for adjustment longitudinally thereof, saidbox-positioningelement extending laterally beyond one side edge of saidbody member, a depth gage member carried by the box positioning elementand situated directly back of the body member in a position to engagethe front face of the stud to which an outlet box is to be secured whensaid gage is placed in its operative vertical position in front of saidstud, and means carried by the laterally extending portion of thebox-positioning element and operative to hold an outlet box in thecorrect position to be attached to the side of said stud.

2. A gage for setting an electrical outlet box on the side of a stud ina wall of a building which is being erected, said gage comprising anelongated body member having a front face and a back face, abox-positioning element mounted on the back face thereof and having aportion extending laterally beyond one side of said body member, a depthgage member carried by the'box-positioning element and adapted to engagethe front face of the stud to which an outlet box is to be secured whensaid gage is placed in its operative vertical position in front of saidstud, and means carried by the back face of the laterally extendingportion of the box-positioning element and cooperating with an open sideof an outlet box to hold it in correct position to be attached to theside of said stud.

3. A gage for setting an electrical outlet box on the side of a stud ina wall of a building which is being erected as defined in claim 1 inwhich the means carried by the box-positioning element for holding thebox in its correct position is in the form of a raised portion on saidbox-positioning element which is of a size and shape to fit within theopen side of the outlet box which is to be secured to the stud.

4. A gage for setting an electrical outlet box on a stud in a wall of abuilding as defined in claim 1 in which the depth gage is adjustable asto its transverse dimension, whereby the box-positioning element may bepositioned at different distances from the front face of the stud.

5. A gage for setting an electrical outlet .box on the side of a stud ina wall of a building whichtis being erected, said gage comprising anelongated body member,

an electrical outlet box-positioning element mounted thereon andextending laterally beyond one side edge thereof, a depth gage membercarried by the box-positioning element and situated directly back of thebody member in a position to engage the front face of the stud to whichan outlet box is to be secured when said gage is placed in its operativevertical position in front of said stud, and means carried by thelaterally extending portion of the box-positioning element and operativeto hold an outlet box in the correct position to be attached to the sideof said stud, said depth gage being made in a plurality of sectionswhich can be used either in superposed relation or singly thereby toprovide either a relatively thick depth gage or a relatively thin depthgage depending on the distance which it is desired to place the frontedge of the outlet box in front of the front face of the stud.

6. A gage for setting electrical outlet boxes on the studs of a wall ofa building which is being erected, said gage comprising an elongatedbody member, a box-positioning element mounted thereon for longitudinaladjustment on said body member from one end to the other end thereof,

said box-positioning element extending laterally beyond one edge of thebody member, a depth gage carried by the box-positioning element at theportion thereof opposite the body member, and box-holding means carriedby the box-positioning member on the laterally extending portionthereof, said gage being reversible whereby when the gage is held in itsoperative position relative to a stud with the box-positioning elementat one end of the body member the box-holding means will be situated onone side of said stud, while when the box-positioning means is shiftedto the other end of the body member and the gage is reversed and againheld in said operative position the boxholding means will be on theother side of said stud.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,392,360 Searle Oct. 4, 1921 1,612,455 McGeorge Dec. 28, 1926 2,168,505Zenewich Aug. 8, 1939 2,524,168 Hamish Oct. 3, 1950

